A Baron.
And canst thou tell us now. Lord Ganelun,
What's taking place that we are summoned here
In council while our legs are scarcely dry
From our long ride?

2d Baron.
A welcome such as this
I like not, Lords!

Ganelun.
I know no more than ye,
My lords, who are but lately come.

3d Baron.
And where
Is Mark, the King?

2d Baron.
Instead of greeting us
He sends a low born knave, and bids us wait
Within these dry and barren walls.

1st Baron (stands up).
By God,
I feel a wish to mount my horse and ride
Away!

5th Baron (entering).
Do ye, my Lords, know why King Mark
Lets Tristram's savage hound, old Husdent live?
It needed but a little that it caused
My death!

4th Baron.
Just now?

5th Baron.
As I rode by its cage
It leap'd against the bars, and made them shake
With such a noise that my affrighted horse
Uprear'd, and headlong sprang across the court.

Ganelun.
The hound is wolflike; none can go within
His cage. Three keepers has he torn to death.

5th Baron.
A wild and dang'rous beast! I would not keep
The brute within my castle walls.

3d Baron (walks irritatedly to the window).
How this
Long waiting irks my soul, good friends!

1st Baron.
So cold
A welcome have I never yet received,
And new the custom is!

Ganelun.
Have patience, sirs,
It seems King Mark and Lord Denovalin
Discuss in secret weighty things—

3rd Baron.
—And wish
To teach us how to wait!

Ganelun.
Nay, here's King Mark!

Ernst_Hardt

ERNST HARDT